October, 2011

Bellator women’s strawweight champion Zoila Frausto-Gurgel announced today via Twitter that she has torn one of her anterior cruciate ligaments and has been forced to pull out of a scheduled November 12 title defense at Bellator 57 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada.

UFC 137 is just around the bend, and since the lineup has made more changes than a MTV awards show host, we figured we’d lay out the current odds before something else horrible happens. So, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com, check out the sweetest lines available, along with our time tested advice below.

Even though Wisconsin has been regulating MMA competition since early 2010, new legislation is being proposed that would give individual Wisconsin towns the power to outlaw the sport. Introduced on October 6th, 2011 Assembly Bill 308 would authorize more than 1,200 Wisconsin towns to enact and enforce an ordinance prohibiting a person from participating in, operating, maintaining, attending or promoting an amateur or professional MMA fighting contest.

The bill was introduced by State Representatives Pat Strachota (R) and Mark Honadel (R), and co-sponsored by State Senator Glenn Grothman (R), although Honadel has reportedly withdrawn his support.

We’re not sure if it was creative editing or if Nick Diaz has had a change of heart about his views on the PR obligations of being a fighter, but Stockton’s favorite son almost seemed happy doing this pre-UFC 137 promo for UFC.com.

“He’s my favorite fighter. He’s better than they are. He’s better than everybody. I know where he came from; he came from my school. As far as I’m concerned he came from where I came from and that’s why he’s here. I gotta win these fights. I don’t think it matters what I do; I think I have to win. I love competition. It gets me right. It makes everything work,” Diaz explained. “I know who’s in this sport. It’s shit…not what I do. MMA fans, in general, are looking forward to this fight. I kind of think that we have some of the same style, therefore we have some of the same fans and I respect his style of fighting.”

(“I don’t want to die. But I’m not afraid to. Because what’s left, man? What do you do when they quit chanting your name?” Props: ESPN via willvojtisek)

As the WWF’s “Razor Ramon” in the early 1990s, Scott Hall was one of pro-wrestling‘s biggest stars — a Scarface-inspired bad guy known for his ever-present toothpick, gold chains, and hilarious promos. But in recent years, he’s become better known for his personal deterioration, which culminated in an utterly tragic headlining appearance at a Massachusetts wrestling show in April, two days after having a seizure. Though comparisons to Mickey Rourke’s character in The Wrestler are easy to make, the real-life story of Scott Hall is much darker.

Last night, ESPN’s E:60 profiled Scott Hall’s path from wrestling mega-success to his subsequent battles with addiction and his questionable decision to mentor his son Cody to follow in his footsteps. We don’t go near pro-wrestling very often on this site, but I thought this was heart-wrenching stuff, and worth sharing.

When asked how he planned on dropping such an immense amount of mass, he deadpanned:

“A lot of shitting, a lot of sitting in a hot bath and a lot of saunaing, and not eating anything. I might even have to chop something off that weighs a lot. We’ll just leave it at that and we’ll move swiftly on.”

To add fuel to his story, Daley posted the following photo on his Facebook page of what he planned to eat after today’s weigh-ins:

It has been nearly 10 months since Vera and Silva threw down at UFC 125: Resolution, with Silva coming away the victor by unanimous decision and handing Vera his walking papers. However, when the drug tests came back, it was revealed that Silva had altered the results of his urine in an effort to mask the steroids he had been taking for back pain. Silva was then fined over 33 grand for the incident, and suspended a year. Vera was invited back to the UFC, and is fighting for the first time since the incident against Elliot Marshall at UFC 137, barring any last second injuries.

When asked about the Silva fight, Vera lived up to his nickname, not holding any of his feelings back in regards to Silva.

(The end of Dustin Neace vs. Akira Corassani…OR WAS IT?? Gif props: IronForgesIron)

After Dustin Pague’s victory last week — which brought Team Mayhem up 4-0 on the scorecard, FYI — Dustin asks his team if they could do a quick “Glory to God” cheer, which Jason Miller actually participates in, even though he’s a die-hard atheist who usually loves to mess with religious people. That just shows what kind of coach Miller is. He let his fighter have his moment, and he didn’t even make Pague participate in a “Glory to Science” cheer afterwards.

As the fighters return to their prep-rooms, Diego Brandao is in Murderous Brazilian Mode (what else is new), and starts to yell at Steve Siler for some reason. “I’m gonna take you head off, bidge!”, etc. Michael Bisping explains that he’s unstable and just wants to fight. Fortunately, he’s in a welcoming environment for that sort of thing.

Mayhem gives Dustin Neace a cowboy hat with a B on it, which stands for “Beast,” his nickname. Josh Ferguson — previously known as “the dude in the cowboy hat” — lays down accusations of swagger-jackin’. (“Come on man, I got one thing going for me here, and you gotta rip it off?”) Oddly enough, Ferguson’s hat also has a ‘B’ on it, even though his nickname doesn’t start with that letter. Unless one of you knows its actual significance, I’m just going to assume it stands for “bumpkin.”

AKA co-founder Javier Mendez explained to Yahoo! Sport’s Dave Meltzer recently that he doesn’t have an opinion on his fighters fighting each other and that he doesn’t get involved in the decision making process when it comes to fights being offered to two of his guys like they have been by UFC president Dana White to Koscheck and Fitch.

“My standpoint is it is up to the fighters,” said Mendez. “I back both my fighters with whatever decision they make. If they both agree and the organizations want it, then it will happen and it’s nothing personal.

And Mendez isn’t the only one at the California gym who doesn’t bat away any suggestion of an inter-team showdown. Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix finalist Daniel Cormier has expressed an interest in facing UFC heavyweight champ and main training partner, UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez if the money is right and if it doesnt harm their friendship.